Analyst Upgrades: Exelon Corporation, Yahoo! Inc., and KB Home

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), and KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

Karee Venema

Mar 24, 2016 at 9:30 AM

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Analysts are weighing in on utilities stock Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), Internet issue Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), and homebuilder KB Home (NYSE:KBH). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on EXC, YHOO, and KBH.

Barclays reinstated its rating on EXC at "overweight" and set its price target at $39, amid news the company has closed its $6.8 billion merger with Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POM) after receiving regulatory approval. Technically, shares of EXC have been surging since hitting a five-year low of $25.09 in mid-December, up 38%. What's more, EXC notched an annual high of $35.50 yesterday, before settling at $34.72. More bullish brokerage notes could be on the horizon, too, considering 60% of analysts maintain a tepid "hold" rating, while the average 12-month price target of $34.76 is in line with Exelon Corporation's current perch.

Starboard Value LP has thrown the gauntlet down at YHOO, calling for a complete overhaul of the company's board of directors. Specifically, the activist hedge fund has nominated nine new board members, saying, "The board and management have continually failed to live up to their own promises and shouldn't be trusted with the decision on whether Yahoo should remain an independent company" -- an issue Starboard has been pushing for some time.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs followed in the recent footsteps of Citigroup, boosting its price target on Yahoo! Inc. to $37 from $33. Most analysts are already in YHOO's corner, as 19 maintain a "buy" or better rating, versus nine "holds" and not a single "sell." On the charts, YHOO has added 33% since bottoming at a two-year low of $26.15 in mid-February, and closed last night at $34.80.

KBH -- which settled last night at $13.10 -- is up 4.7% in electronic trading, after the company's better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings report was met with price-target hikes at Barclays (to $12), UBS (to $13), and Susquehanna (to $15). Today's positive price action could have the shares surging through their 200-day moving average -- a trendline that has contained the stock's rally off its Jan. 20 three-year low of $9.04. Additionally, KB Home could be ripe for a continued round of short covering. Although short interest dropped 5.9% in the most recent reporting period, it still accounts for 28.2% of KBH's available float -- or 7.8 days' worth of pent-up buying demand, at the stock's typical volumes.

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